Jamieson, Robert H.

1/1/1976

ROBERT H. JAMIESON-1976

Robert H. Jamieson was born in New Orleans, La., in a Methodist parsonage. His father was a member of the Louisiana Annual Conference. The Jamiesons moved to California when he was age six, but he returned to Louisiana in 1942. Bob was converted at the age of six when he knew “God loved him and Christ died for his sins.” At an early age he was called by God to preach. He received his local preacher’s license in Los Angeles, California at age fifteen. His formal training was received from the University of California in Berkeley, Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, and St. Paul Theological Seminary, Kansas City.
It is not surprising that Bob Jamieson died in an airplane because all his adult years he had been an ardent pilot. He began flying with the California Forest Patrol. During World War II he served his country when the Civil Air Patrol was activated to fly submarine patrol over the Gulf of Mexico. When death came, he was doing two of his favorite things: preaching a revival at Maplewood Church and flying!
Bob was a builder. He dreamed dreams about what should be and then followed God in leading the people to fulfill these dreams. At least three congregations in the New Orleans District can be traced to his vision of the need for a United Methodist Church in these particular communities: St. James, Metairie and Kenner.
Bob, in good Methodist tradition, found it difficult to settle for one church. Like the circuit rider, if he was appointed to only one congregation, it was not long before he found other preaching places where he eagerly and gladly shared the “unreachable riches of the gospel.” His appointments in the Louisiana Annual Conference included Slaughter, Denham Springs, Associate at First Church, Baton Rouge, Associate at Carrollton Avenue and Director of the Wesley Foundation of Tulane, St. Paul’s, St. Mark’s, Metairie, Kenner, St. James, First Church DeRidder, Pine Grove, Henning Memorial, Sulphur, La., Munholland Memorial, and Louisiana Conference Area Provost.
Bob’s memorial service seemed like a session of our annual conference because of the high esteem of his ministerial colleagues and the deep devotion of the laity. The service was held in the sanctuary of First Church, New Orleans, with Bishop Finis A. Crutchfield, Dr. Alfred L. Norris, Rev. Earl Cantrell of Vann, Texas, and the Reverend George W. Ross officiating. Interment was in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. Bishop Crutchfield, in paying tribute to Bob, mentioned his intrepid spirit, his great sense of humor, and his outstanding ability as a preacher of the gospel.
As we concluded our talk about this memoir, Norma said, “George, I don’t know anything else to tell you. Bob was a man’s man. He was a gentle man. He was a loving and understanding man. He was God’s man.” What more could be said?